Smells like sunshine

It was been exactly a year since I tended to my blog. Now that school is done, FOREVER, I can stop and smell the sunshine, I can see beyond the next week, and I can take the time to publish a few words and pictures. Today I drove my family out to a local used furniture shop hoping to find some funky old bookcases. Originally I was going to buy some sleek IKEA units. But I found this little place on craiglist and thought I should give it a shot. Lucky me...this piece just came in, 1960's or 70's? Heavy, solid, well cared for. There is some gorgeous wood detail work that matches perfectly with my hand stenciled dining table. Right away I knew I would paint it fresh and light. How about a soft minty green? It's going to be fabulous and I will keep you updated.

California Vacation photo book

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My amazing Cale

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It's a Dog Party!

Draper turned 3 on the 21st. Being that he's our collective little buddy ...we decided to throw him a dog birthday party and invite over some friends and cousins! We had 4 dogs over, Gordon, Cindy Lou, Merle, and Sada, and they all behaved exceptionally! We had pumpkin apple pupcakes (Ruby was the only one that didn't finish hers) for the dog guests and pumpkin cupcakes for our human guests. This party was as much for the kids as it was Draper. They were super excited and were so helpful with gathering up dog toys and making sure all the pups were being safe and having fun. What an awesome day :)

Soil and Toil

Our newest creative project....our front yard! Since moving in 5 years ago I have wanted to tear up the grass up front and put in a xeriscaped oasis. Grass is so needy, gotta water, gotta weed, gotta mow...I would rather a more natural environment up front, and keep the grass in the back for the kids and dogs. So during this hot summer a new weed took over our front yard grass and the grass looked horrible and felt horrible. So we felt it was finally time to do something. I recently heard about this book by Ivette Soler, called "The Edible Front Yard" and got myself a copy and poured through it front to back and back to front. It basically calls us out to get rid of the grass and plant a landscape full of edible annuals, perennials and mix in some beautiful ornamentals.  It just makes sense, and Jason and are becoming more and more aware of our food, where it comes from, what is in it. By having our front yard full of organic, healthy, food grown with our family's love, what could be better? So yesterday we worked all day, under the brutal hot sun of late summer, and layered our front yard grass so that next spring (hopefully!) the grass will be dead, but all that good magic stuff in the soil won't be. We first layered cardboard all over the grass, then added about 4 inches of compost and then 3-4" of mulch. I can't wait for next spring!!!

End of Summer days continued

For the last week that me and my three children would be home all week together before school starts up for all of us, I decided we would go out with a bang and planned a week full of busy fun. On Monday we went to our beautiful City Park and met Daddy for lunch at Subway (kids choice!). On Tuesday we headed to Lee Martinez farm which I grew up with and now my kids have too! These are the pictures that chronicle our quaint little tour, we always love it and the animals, especially the babies! On Tuesday we also went school supply shopping, who doesn't love that?! Wednesday was a walk to the comic book store to pick out comics for our South Dakota vacation. Thursday we had Maya's friend over and had some mini golf adventures together. On Friday we checked out the new Rocket Fizz store downtown and of course had to get some soda and candy, and then played pinball at Pinball Jones , YAY!!

End of Summer days

Well my poor doll has been put to the side because of the extreme heat and dryness of this summer. The clay would dry too quickly for me to work with and I want her to have young, smooth, firm skin, not blotchy, bulgy and patchy skin! So I found some more practical projects to try in my spare time. One of them was curtains for my front window. Waiting on finding the exact color of dye to finish those up and post about. So in the meantime I decided to make some eco-friendly napkins for the kids packed lunches! I think I may be more excited then they are. It was a super quick little project. I am excited and feel happy about having one less wasteful habit in our lives!